Sarah Green's Organics

Having lived in Southminster all my life, I have never been to Tillingham. Which is really only just down the road for me. Maybe I should go check the place out after reading about Sarah Green's Organics.

Over 30 acres of Soil Association registered farmland, Sarah is passionate about growing delicious organic, seasonal vegetables. All year round, she provides a variant supply of vegetables - from aubergines to onions, cabbages to courgettes, and many more.

Her farm can provide a natural habitat as all farming here is purely organic meaning no chemicals are used to kill weeds and insects. Careful planning means Sarah provides a varied range of seasonal produce on a weekly basis. Sarah's produce is available at Farm Shops, Stoke Newington Organic Farmers Market, London, first and third Saturday of the month 10am to 2.30pm and Burnham on Crouch Farmers Market (third Sunday of the month) Carnival Hall 9am to 12.30pm.

For more information, visit her website here.

Carter's Vineyards

Carter's Vineyards produce an extensive range of fine wine from the Essex Countryside. Though not quite Narnia, Carter's Vineyards is an enchanting place comprising of 40 acres of vines, wildflower meadows, lakes and woodlands.

Headed by Ben Bunting, Carter's Vineyards is run by a small group who share the passion for the vineyard and are committed to producing wine of only the highest quality. These wines include Carter's Sparkling Brut, Rose, King Coel, Colchester Rose and many more. These wines are the absolute surefire way to represent the very best wine of Colchester and East Anglia.

The wines produced have received a wide variety of awards. These include the King Coel 2003 being awarded the Gold Medal from the East Anglian Wine of the Year 2006 competition.

Wine can be purchased online and you can also pay visit to Carter's Vineyards and have a short tour to get an idea of their wine making process. There's even a tasting session.

For more information, click here.

Fairfields Farm Crisps

There's not much I can say about these crisps apart from they are absolutely amazing! Definitely some of the best crisps to get your hands on. Shame about the lack of Gary Lineker though.

Robert and Laura of Fairfields Farm love to make crisps. They create their crisps from the best potatoes in the Colne Valley. To stick to their natural roots as possible, they are grown on fertile ground and let mother nature do her bit. Each potato is then hand selected and washed, followed by a good old pan-frying in sunflower oil to ensure you only get the highest quality crisps.

Fairfields Farm produce a wide variety of crisp flavours. There are some extremely interesting takes on flavours such as the Smoky Bacon and Sunday Roast Potato flavour. For a full list and more info on the available flavours, check out their rather humourous website here.

Aspall Cyder

Though not a fond drinker of cider, I have an unhealthy addiction to vinegar. I will put it on almost anything and will happily drink it out of one of those bottles.

Here we have Aspall Cyder. Inherited in 1725, the Chevallier (currently in their eighth generation) continue to produce high quality cyder. Among cyder, they also produce a range of award winning apple juice and vinegars. Their product range has won over 20 awards since 2000. These awards include Worlds Best Cider, numerous Q awards and Soil Association Awards.

While uncommonly produced anymore, Aspall Cyder (yes, there is a difference between Cyder and Cider) is the only Cyder to ‘Supreme Winner’ at the International Beer and Cider Competition. Aspall's vinegar range is further boosted by wine vinegar imported from the Rioja region of Spain and balsamic vinegar imported from Modena, Italy.

Their apple juice is available through local stores, delicatessens, Tesco and Asda in the East Anglia region, and can also be found nationally in health food stores. Their cider can be found in supermarkets such as Sainsbury, Tesco, Morrisons and Waitrose. For all you willing to go the distance, their cyder can even be purchased in Australia and on the west coast of America!

For more info, click here.

Shalford Brewery

This is for all you ale enthusiasts out there! No matter how slightly disturbing their fox mascot may look, Shalford Brewery has been brewing fine Essex Ales since July 2007 using only the best quality ingredients.

Nigel Lawes has been an ale enthusiast all of his adult life and is passionate about the process of brewing staying to the original method as close as possible. He uses the finest malt, hops and yeast to create interesting, different and traditional real ales for the discerning real ale drinker. Since commencing brewing, Shalford have been nominated and shortlisted for Champion Beer of Britain at the Great British Beer Festival 2008.

Shalford produce a range of Bottle Conditioned Beers like the Barnfield Bitter, Levelly Black and Rotten End (Im sure it's nicer than it sounds). The George Inn, the closest pub to the brewery stock draught Shalford beers. A range of bottled beers can also be purchased at these stores:

The Shalford Village Stores.
The Blue Egg Great Bardfield.
Greenstead Green Farm Shop.
Farmer Browns Farm Shop Mount Bures.
Lords Farm Shop.

For more information, click here.

The Original Rossi Ice Cream

I love Ice Cream. Growing up as a child, my dad would take me to the Southend Air Show every summer and he would always buy me a Rossi ice cream from one of the stalls. This was always my highlight more than actually seeing the aeroplanes fly past. They're one of the few UK makers of Ice Cream that still use fresh milk as opposed to powdered milk.

Originating back in 1932, Pietro and Luisa Rossi moved to Southend to start an Ice Cream business with a local family, also called Rossi. Unfortunately in 1937, the partnership dissolved but Pietro kept the business together with a small kiosk alongside the Westcliff Seafront.

The production of the Ice Cream halted during the war years but following a family reunon in 1946, business resumed in Southend. The 1950's and 60's saw the business flourish and an Ice Cream Factory was built to cope with demand. Nowadays, Rossi is now under new ownership but Ice Cream is still being produced to the same traditional recipe first introduced in 1932.

Rossi now produce a wide range of ice cream products from the simple tubs with a wide variety of flavours to Lemon Sorbet (which actually won an award for the UK's top lemon sorbet).

Rossi Ice Cream products can be bought from a range of retailers across the Anglia region and I seriously suggest at least trying them out. Better yet, if you are ever at some sort of event in the region like the Southend Air Show, you'll be sure there will be a Rossi stall somewhere.